With Maj. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot scheduled to be sworn in as Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defense Forces on Sunday, coverage in the Arab media over his appointment has been surprisingly positive, claiming that he is moderate, calm, and avoids unnecessary wars.
Wadi Awawdeh of Al-Jazeera wrote (Arabic link) that Eizenkot, who served as deputy chief of the IDF’s General Staff under outgoing Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, “is edgy, disciplined, cautious and conservative”:
Gadi Eizenkot, the 23rd commander of the Israeli army, is an officer who spent most of his career fighting Hezbollah in southern Lebanon… He enjoys a sense of diplomacy and the ability to maneuver and avoid entering ‘the mine fields’ of policy and (thus avoids) gaining enemies and opponents within the army.
Ibrahim Al-Jabin of the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Arab wrote (Arabic link):
The new Chief of Staff of the Israeli army has extensive military experience that enables him to know the details of the region thanks to his leadership of the most famous combat brigade in the Jewish state… He enjoys balance and calm and he is not dragged into reactions – he has a tendency toward long-term strategic planning.
In relation to the challenges awaiting the new chief of staff, Al-Jabin wrote further:
The new Chief of Staff will have to prepare during the next term for the possibility of a third Palestinian uprising… taking into account the need to re-qualify for the Israeli army to launch a ground war. He will have to prepare for a possible outbreak of war in the northern front or Israeli military intervention in Syria, as well as finding a formula to deal with Iran’s nuclear program.
Writing for the London-based pan-Arab newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi, Palestinian specialist in Israeli affairs Imad Awad wrote (Arabic link):
The front with Lebanon, which has been heated… and remained in a state of permanent alert, put him as one of the most important options in the choice of the Israeli commander of the Israeli army under very complex conditions. Gantz and Eizenkot take the same positions in terms of security conditions that still exist, but the Iranian file that in the Gantz era was approaching a confrontation with Iran… will in the era of Eizenkot be deported to the United States.
The Lebanese pro-Hezbollah newspaper Al-Akhbar described (Arabic link) Eizenkot as “a general who does not like wars.” Yihia Dabuk of Al-Akhbar (Arabic link) stressed (Arabic link) that Eizenkot’s appointment comes under “unusual conditions”:
He is experienced, by his flesh and blood in the 2006 war (as the leader of the mainland forces), knows the limits of Israel’s strength, Hezbollah’s reactions, the prices and the red lines that prompted him to maintain the status with the Lebanon situation, with no large rounds of combat over the past years…
Eizenkot does not come from a different… thinking than Gantz. He was deputy chief of staff and a partner in his decisions. Don’t expect from him to be the owner of a different thinking, because he belongs to the school of the former Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi. Experience has shown that this school is more reasonable than some of those in the political establishment and he believes in the use of force only when there is no other choice.
Against this background, Eizenkot’s mission will continue, just as accomplished by Gantz, to stay away from Iran and for avoiding any possible military option… Don’t expect any change in the equation between Lebanon and Israel.
During his military career, Eizenkot led the Golani Brigade, the Bashan Armored Division, the Judea and Samaria Division, the IDF’s Operations Branch and the Northern Command. In 1999, he became the military secretary to then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak.
[Photo: Israel Defense Forces / Flickr]